The nob



(No Model.)

J. H. FERGUSON.

HAND TACK DRIVER.

No. 602,068. Patented Apr. 12,1898.

Masses. Ewen/fon a WSCI/ywow /f E I I u 7@ @f Jw.

- said driver-rod.

JAMES 1-1.A FERGUSON,

" Nrrno STATES ATENI Enron,

HAND TACK-DRIVER.

'sPEefFIcA'rIoN forming part' of Letters Patent No. 602,068, dated April 12, 1898.

Application nea March V29, 1897.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. FERGUSON, of Boston, county of Su'folk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Hand -Tack-Drivers, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. Y

The present invention relates to a' hand tack-driver of that class in which the tacks are fed from a suitable reservoir or raceway to a proper position, toA be operated upon by a driver-rod or plunger, such devices being specially useful in lasting shoes and similar operations. t

The object of the present invention is to provide improved means whereby the tackdriver may be operated with one hand and with greater efficiency than that of hand tackdrivers heretofore constructed, the 'device being provided, in accordance with the invention, with an external hammer (preferably spring-actuated) adapted to strike the driverrod, which is guided in a suitable frame, the said hammer being irst automatically set in position to strike a blow by means of a suitable actuating device, which also constitutes the handle of the tool, and then released, so as to strike the blow and drive the tack, the settin g and releasing of the hammer being accomplished by a single movement of the actuating device in one direction.

The driver-rod in accordance wit-h the invention is supported in a guideway in com-A munication with the raceway or feed-chute, which contains the tacks, the said driver-rod normally extending completely through said guideway to the end thereof, in which position it is held by the engagement of the hammer therewith, the last tack of the column o tacks therefore lying in engagement with the In the operation of the device, as has been stated, the hammer, which may be pivotally supported, isv first set in a position to operate and thenv released, and means areprovided whereby the driver-rod moves upward along the guideway as the'hammer is lifted, so that the tack which was in engagement with the driver-rod is free to move into the guideway and be struck by the driver-rod when the stanno. 629,651. (No man.)

It is obviously essential that only one tack should be allowed to enter.l the guideway at each operation; and a further feature of the present invention consists in a novel construction and arrangement of` the tack-controlling devices which coperate with the driver-rod.

In accordance with the invention theraceway is provided with a gate extending transversely across the same, the said gate being adjacent to the driver-rod guideway, the distance between the said parts being such as to admit a single tack and `no more, and when the parts are in their normal position above stated-viz.,with the end of the driver-rod at the end of the guideway-the said .gate stands open, so that the whole column of tacks is supported by the engagement of the last tack with the side of the driver-rod. To separate the last tack from the others and prevent more than one tack fromentering the guideway, the said gateis caused to close in response to the risey of the driver-rod, such closure taking place before the end of lthe said driver-rod has reached the chute, so that the tack,which,as stated, is su pported against the side of the driver-rod, cannot move forward until the gate has moved across the chute to cut off the remaining tacks. As soon, however, as the driver-rod has risen so that the end thereof is completely above the chute the tack which was previously contained in the space between the gate and driver-rod is free to move forward into the guideway to be operated upon in the descent of the driver-rod, the remainder of the tacks being separated from the guideway and supported by the gate until the end of the driverrod has again descended below the chute, closing the guideway and preventing the entry therein of another tack. After the driver rod has risen and the gate has become closed IOO the proper positioning of the tack which is left outside of the gate is assured by means of a device which may be called the kickerin, which is adapted to engage and move the said tack into the guideway, the said kickerin also cooperating with the driver-rod and being adapted to operate upon the tack just after the end of the said driver-rod has passed the chute in its upward movement and has left the guideway open for the reception of the tack. Conversely, the said kicker-in is moved out of the path of the driver-rod as the latter descends.

It is to be understood that the terms above, below, upwardjf downward, dac., are used with a view to the vertical positionfof the tack-driver shown in the drawings, which is the usual position in which the tool is operated, it being obvious, however, that the tool may be caused to operate in any position desired, it being practicable, for eX- ample, to drive a tack horizontally or even upward. i

Figure l is a side elevation of a hand tackdriver embodying the invention, one of the side members of the tack-feed chute being removed. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same on the line .112 of Fig. l, looking toward the left; and Fig. 3, a sectional detail on thei ac3 of Fig. 2.

The driver-rod ais vertically movable in a guideway b, adapted `to receive tacks one at a time from a chute or raceway c, which may be previouslyloadedby means of any suitable or usual tack-loading device. (Not herein shown.) The said driver-rod a is shown as connected with an enlarged plunger a2, contained in asimilar guideway b2,the said guideways being formed in the frame B, and the plunger a2 is normally pressed upward to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. l, by means of alight spring a3, interposed between a shoulder Z13 in the guideway b2 and a head or enlargement c4, formed on the said plunger a2, which is extended upward through the frame to be operated upon by the external hammer (Z. The said hammer d is shown as pivoted at cl2 upon an arm or projection B2 from the frame B, and in order to increase the force of the blow or to render the hammer operative while the device is in any position, it is shown as provided with springs d3, connected at one end to the arm B2 or any suitable portion of the frame and at the other end to the said hammer, the said springs being shown as connected to an arm d4, extending upward above the hammer, for the purpose of obtaining the best spring action. To automatically operate the said hammer, the frame B is provided with a handle portion e, shown as a vertically-movable sleeve mounted on. the main portion of said frame and adapted to be automatically connected to and disconnected from the hammer to produce a movement thereof upon its pivot to its operatve position and to permit the operation thereof. As herein shown, the said handle the said gate.

e is provided with a spring-latch e2, connected at e3 with avguide-rod e, pivotally connected at e5 to the said sleeve or an arm or projection e6 thereof. The said guide-rod c4 is engaged by a movable guiding-support d5 in the end of the hammer-lever, so that as the said sleeve e moves upward the latch e2 will be properly guided to engage a projection d upon the hammer-lever, so that in the downward movement of the sleeve e the said hamme'r will be rocked upon its pivot. In the upward movement of the sleeve e, therefore, the spring-latch e2 automatically connects with the hammer-lever, and in the downward movement thereof the hammer is carried to its operative position or set,7 as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, and as it reaches such position the latch is engaged by a pin or projection C17, and thereby trippedior thrown off of the projection d, freeing the hammer and allowing the same to strike a blow, the force of which is augmented by the action of the springs cl3.

To use the device, therefore, the attendant or operator simply grasps the handle or sleeve e, and in carrying the tack-driver to its operative position it is obvious that the relative upward movement of said handle is caused by the actual downward movement of the rest of the device, owing to its weight, so that when the t-ip b4 of the main frame, which is at the end of the guideway is placed over the point where it is desired to drive the tack the remainder of the operation consists only in forcing downward the said sleeve, which rst lifts and then releases the hammer and drives the tack which is then in the guide- Way Z9 below the driving-rod a.

To insure the presence of a tack in the guideway b at the time of operating the hammer and to prevent the possibility of there being more than one tack present at a time, the column of tacksin the chute c is controlled by appliances the arrangement and operation of which form a feature of the present invention.

As herein shown, the end of the chute c is provided with a gate f, movable transversely across the same, there being just sufficient space between the said gate and the side of the driver-rod, when the said driver-rod is down, as shown in Fig. 3, to contain a single tack, the remaining tacks in the column being prevented from entering by the presence of The said gate f is adapted to to be closed, as by a spring f2, which operates upon a pivoted bar f 3, to which the said gat-c is secured, the said bar being adapted to be moved to open the gate by means of a cam projection f5, adapted to cooperate with the driver-rod a., so that the descent of the said driver-rod will result in the opening of the said gate, which will then be automatically closed after the driver-rod rises.

The gate-controlling device, shown as consisting of the cam f5, above described, is so arranged with relation to the driver-rod that IOO IIO

the gate will not be opened until the said driver-rod has moved to a position to prevent a tack from entering the guideway b, the said cam f 5 being shownas adapted to extend into said guideway below the chute c, so that the gate will not be opened until the end of the driver-rod has passed wholly beyond the said chute. When, therefore, the device is lin its normal condition-that is to say, with the sleeve down and disconnected from the hammer and the hammer itself held down by its springs upon the end of the plunger a2--the said gate will be opened, as shown, and the last tack of the column of tacks will lie adjacent to and in engagement with the side of the driver-rod a.

In the operation of the device the sleeve or handle e-becomes connected in its movement in one direction, as hereinbefore described,

with the hammer, and the said hammer will be lifted by the movement of the sleeve in the other direction, so that the driver-rod will rise owing to the stress of its spring a3, and as soon as the end of said driver-rod passes beyond the cam f 5 the gate f will be closed and will separate the last tack of the column from those above it, it being impossible, therefore, for another tack to enter the guideway until after the said driver-rod has descended so as to again open the gate.

To insure the passage of the tack which is adjacent to the hammer into the guideway below the said hammer, the tool is herein shown as provided with a device for positively engaging the said tack and pushing it into the guideway b, the said device or kickerin, as it may be called, comprising a toe or projection g, having an inclined surface g2, adapted to engage theside of the tack after the driver has passed upward beyond the chute c and push the said tack into the guide- Way b. The said kicker-in is also controlled by the driver-rod a and is moved outof the path of said driver just as the latter descends, this being accomplished,` as shown, by providing, in conjunction with said kicker-in, a cam projection g3, which extends into the guideway b just above the chute c. The said kicker-in is normally pressed inward by means of a spring-arm g4, to which it is connected, and will obviously operate as soon as the driver-rod a rises above the cam pro` jection g3, the said projection being just above the chute, so that the kicker-in operates as soon as the driver-rod is withdrawn from the path of the tack next to be driven. Obviously as the driver-rod descends on being struck by the hammer it will engage the cam projection g3 and move the kicker-in out of the way and drive the tack then in the described, since modifications may obviously be made therein.

I claiml. In a hand tack-driver, the combination with a driver-rod adapted to coperate with a tack to be driven, of a pivotally-supported hammer for said rod, and an' actuating device adapted by a continuous movement in one direction to automatically set and release said hammer to drive the tack, substantially as, described. 5

2. In a hand tack-driver, the combination with the driver-rod, of a guideway for said driver-rod formed in a suitable frame or casing, the end of the said driver-rod projecting beyond the said casing, an external hammer connected with said casing and adapted to strike the end of the said rod to drive the tack, .and an actuating dev-ice adapted by. a continuousmovement in one direction to set and release said hammer, substantially as described.-

3. In a hand tack-driver, the combination with. the guideway, adapted'to receive tacks one byone, of a driver-rod longitudinally movable in said guideway, a sleeve surrounding said guideway and longitudinally movable with relation thereto, a hammer pivotally supported above said guideway and adapted to strike the said driver-rod, alatch connected with said sleeve and adapted during. the movement thereof in one direction to engage the said hammer whereby a movementY thereof in the opposite direction will carry the hammer to its operative position, and means for automatically disengagmg said latch to permit the hammer to operate, sub-istantially as described.

4. In a tack-driver, the combination with the driver-rod, ofa guideway for said driverrod, a raceway or feed-chute for the tacks extending toward vsaid guideway, a gate normally extend ing transversely across said raceway and yieldingly held in such position as by a spring, and a projection directly c onnected with said gate and extending into said guideway beyond the said chute in the path of said driver-rod whereby the said gate is.

opened by the cooperation of said driver-rod roo IIO

with said projection after the end of the said driver-rod has passed the said chute in its' operative movement, and is closed by the action of its spring before the end of the driverrod has reached the chutein the inoperative movement of saidrod, substantially as de scribed..

5. Inra tack-driver, the combination with the guideway b, of the driver-rod a longitudinally movable therein, the feed-chute c lopening into said guideway, the gate f mounted on the pivoted'barf3 and extending transversely across said feed-chute, and the projection f5 from said bar extending into said guideway below the said feed-chute and adapted to be engaged and operated by the driveri rod, substantially asr described.

G. In a tack-driver, the combination with be operated upon by the driver to move the the vdriver-rod and guideway therefor, of a said kicker-inWont of the way during the feed-chute or raceway communicating with descent of said driver, substantially as de- 15 said guideway, a gate forcontroiling the tacks scribed.

5 in said raceWay, an actuating-cam for said In testimony whereof I have signed my gate extending into said guideway below the naine to this specification in the presence of said raceway and adapted to be operated upon two subscribing Witnesses.

by the driver to open the ofate a kicker-in for positioning a tackn bsaid 7guideway, and JAMES II' FERGUSON' Io a cam projection from said kicker-in ex- Witnesses:

tending into the said guideway above the said Y H. J. LIVERMORE,

chute, said cam projection being adapted to JAS. J. MALONEY. 

